Where the WIREless Things Are

Just last week, on a French high-speed train operating between Paris and Brussels, a stable Wi-Fi broadband connection was successfully tested and offered at bandwidth rates comparable with today's available DSL lines. For the first time, travelers aboard that train were able to conduct business via the internet—uninterrupted, unwired and best of all, for free. The access is offered as an added benefit, presumably at a loss, to those already paying to use the services of the train system.

A few thousand miles away, a student preps for class in a downtown Chicago coffee shop. Her laptop's wireless network finder has popped up both restricted and unrestricted networks. She can easily walk up to the store manager and pay the $29.95 fee for a monthly pass to access the coffee shop's wireless network. Or, she can hop a free ride on the unlocked wireless cloud being offered, gratis, from the hotel next door. Or, even better, she can ride the free wireless wave from the public park across the street. She now faces the dilemma… save her money for more important things like tuition, or pay to use the coffee shop's network? What would you do?

Yet another blurry line created by technological evolution… free vs. fee. Enter: the municipal broadband debate.

A number of interesting cooperative efforts between municipalities and multiple private sector partners already exist throughout the country. While certain concerns have been raised about municipal involvement, mostly voiced by the baby bells and cable giants, an equally strong voice believes that municipalities have an obligation to find solutions that are open and competitively neutral.

If you're not familiar with the City of Chicago's Department of Business and Information Services (BIS), it's the division of local government that is responsible for managing the entire IT and network infrastructure for the City. Alongside enabling us to pay our parking tickets online and navigate through the maze of the City's web portal, BIS has been silently building one of the most impressive wireless architectures in our country. Through the creative leadership of Commissioners Chris O'Brien and Mary Dempsey, a municipally based Wi-Fi network is already up and running with nodes operating in all 79 of the City's public libraries. And, yes, it's free.

"Given Wi-Fi's ability to transform the way people access information, we felt that it was crucial to broaden our constituents' exposure to wireless technology," said Christopher O'Brien, CIO of the City of Chicago. "The Chicago Public Library is a logical first step in this endeavor as it reaches a wide breadth of people across numerous communities."

Built in partnership with Airespace, Inc., the City's WLAN system also enables City field workers to attain easy access to key information when on the road, including a secure channel for Chicago police and public safety personnel.

"There are unique challenges associated with building and operating a wireless network that spans an entire city and serves thousands of users every single day," said Al Ruiz, network architect for the City of Chicago. "Our partnership with Airespace has demonstrated the ability to scale in size without sacrificing ease of use, flexibility, and security. This will become increasingly strategic as we continue to expand our wireless initiatives throughout our city." Alongside the library hotspots, free service is available at Daley Plaza, Millennium Park, and several other cultural zones throughout the central business district. Chicago is rightfully earning its place as one of the country's top 5 cities for Wi-Fi deployment, according to CNET.

Meanwhile, cities throughout the country battle to stay ahead of the bare knuckled agendas of the baby bells, who are trying to convince legislators in practically every state that municipally operated wireless networks are a bad, bad thing… and that competitive landscapes for wireless ISP's are best left to the old phone and cable companies. Yeah… ok… tell that to our student friend in the coffee shop. I'm sure she'll have a few thoughts on the topic.

--Dan Lyne


Don't miss SUPERCOMM!
Explore the whole world of communications, June 6-9, at Chicago's McCormick Place.
Get details at www.supercomm2005.com.

Dipping into Chicago's Talent Pool

With more than 100 languages spoken and more than 26 different ethnic groups having populations greater than 25,000—Chicago is one of the most diverse cities in the world. But one thing that truly makes the Windy City a global center is the intellectual capital that is abundant in Chicago, in large part due to the city's position as a hub for higher education.

Chicagoland is home to 113 higher education institutions including colleges, universities, community colleges and independent institutions. As the recent U.S. News and World Report on America's best graduate schools shows, Chicago is home to some of the top grad schools in the country—in everything from finance to art. The following rankings prove that Chicago's businesses have access to one of the greatest pools of talent in the country, or even the world.

THE TOP SCHOOLS FOR BUSINESS
#4 — Northwestern University (Kellogg)
#8 — The University of Chicago

Business School Specialties

Accounting #2 — The University of Chicago #10 — Northwestern University (Kellogg)	Executive MBA #1 — Northwestern University (Kellogg) #3 — The University of Chicago
Finance #2 — The University of Chicago #7 — Northwestern University (Kellogg)	Management #2 — Northwestern University (Kellogg)
Marketing #1 — Northwestern University (Kellogg) #9 — The University of Chicago	Part-time MBA #2 — The University of Chicago #3 — Northwestern University (Kellogg) #8 — DePaul University (Kellstadt)

ECONOMICS
#1 — The University of Chicago
#8 — Northwestern University

Economics Specialties

Econometrics #7 — The University of Chicago #8 — Northwestern University	Development Economics #6 — The University of Chicago
International Economics #10 — The University of Chicago	Industrial Organization #3 — Northwestern University #7 — The University of Chicago
Microeconomics #5 — The University of Chicago #9 — Northwestern University	Public Finance #7 — The University of Chicago
Labor Economics #1 — The University of Chicago	Macroeconomics #2 — The University of Chicago #8 — Northwestern University

SCHOOL OF LAW
#6 — The University of Chicago
#10 — Northwestern University
*** both are ranked as top schools for diversity
**** Chicago has 4 schools in top 100


MASTER OF FINE ARTS
#1 — School of the Art Institute of Chicago

School of the Art Institue of Chicago Specialty Rankings
#1 in Photography
#2 in Painting/Drawing
#2 in Multimedia/Visual Communications
#3 in Sculpture
#6 in Printmaking

Chicago-area schools also ranked high on lists for the top graduate schools in education, engineering, pharmacy, medical research, audiology, clinical psychology, community health, health services administration, nursing, nursing anesthesia, nursing midwifery, physical therapy, rehabilitation counseling, social work, speech-language pathology, public affairs, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, geology, applied mathematics, mathematics, physics, English, history, political science, psychology and sociology.

These U.S. News rankings prove businesses looking for talent in any field will find it in Chicago.

For more information on U.S. News & World Report rankings, please visit www.usnews.com.

Creativity at Work: Innovation

Outsourcing is an American innovation that has driven the dramatic growth of Chicago companies like Hewitt Associates. The Eurodollar futures contract is only one of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's many, hugely profitable innovations. Simultaneous parallel landings are an innovation of O'Hare International Airport. And Motorola's "brick" mobile phone was a mid-course innovation from the Chicago company that has many times over changed how the world lives.

Each of these Chicago innovations sparked worldwide replication, major economic growth, and serious new competition for the original innovators.

Innovation is creative change for the better. The speed and scale of change in a globalizing world seem to be increasing exponentially. New gets old—fast. And to keep up, we need to stay ahead.

America's competitive advantage in a world marketplace of cheap physical and intellectual labor may be our ability to innovate new products, services and processes—generating creative breakthroughs in the lab, on the production floor, and at the office.

It is certain that innovation itself needs to be encouraged and honored. Nominations are now open for the fourth annual Chicago Innovation Awards, created by the Chicago Sun-Times and Kuczmarski & Associates.

For more information, and to nominate a Chicago innovator, go to: www.chicagoinnovationawards.com.

--Paul O'Connor

Chicago by the Numbers

World Business Chicago
177 N. State Street, Suite 500
Chicago, Illinois 60601

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